Ironing pads



April 10, 1956 MERKlN 2,741,045

IRONING PADS Filed April 28, 1950 PIII'UIQJ co vvvlv IIIQDQ' 24 x ZZ. j/[l INVENTOR HTTORNEV United States Patent TO This invention relates toironing pads and more particularly to ironing pads of the heatreflecting type.

Numerous attempts have been made to overcome the disadvantages of theusual soft, resilient ironing pad and to speed up the ironing operationby providing a heat reflecting surface in conjunction with the ironingpad to reflect the heat of the iron into the bottom side of the materialbeing ironed, the usual arrangement taking the form of a sheet of metalfoil or other heat reflective material placed above or below the ironingpad. Such arrangements have not been satisfactory, however, for if themetal foil is placed on top of the pad, the moisture from the materialbeing ironed will not be absorbed by the ironi ng pad, consequently alonger time to perform the ironing operation will be required, while ifthe metal foil is placed beneath the ironing pad, the moisture from thematerial being ironed cannot pass through the ironing pad and hence thepad soon becomes too wet for use.

I have found that a satisfactory ironing pad of the heat reflecting typemust satisfy a number of requirements, some of which are conflicting toa certain extent. the surface of the ironing pad must be resilient topermit ironing around buttons and the like, and must be withoutprojections to present a smooth surface to the material being ironed.Second, the surface of the ironing pad in contact with the materialbeing ironed must be waterpermeable to permit the moisture in thematerial being ironed to pas-s through the surface of the ironing pad.Third, the portion of the pad near the surface in contact with thematerial being ironed should not retain the moisture from the materialbeing ironed,'as otherwise that portion of the pad will become so wetthat the ironing operation must be stopped and the pad dried or a drypad provided.

By my invention, for the first time in the art, I have provided aflexible resilient surfaced heat reflecting ironing pad which'satisfiesthe above enumerated requirements, and which may be economicallyconstructed.

It is a feature of my invention that the portion of the ironing pad nearthe surface contacting the material to be ironed is kept dry and warmduring the ironing operation so that the ironing operation may becontinued indefinitely without the necessity of drying or replacing thepad.

For the purpose of more fully explaining further features and advantagesof my invention, reference is made to the following drawings, wherein apreferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic view partly broken away, of an ironing padembodying my invention, and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the ironing pad of Fig. 1taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the ironing pad of my invention comprises ingeneral a relatively thin sheet of a water-permeable heat reflectingmaterial 12, such as metal foil having a large number of perforations22, said sheet having adjacent each side thereof a relatively thickFirst,

2 resilient pad 14 of water permeable heat insulating ma terial, such ascotton batting or other fibrous material.

In the preferred embodiment of the ironing pad 10 of my invention, asheetof thinflexible metal foil 12 having a shiny, heat reflectingsurface, preferably aluminum foil of'about one to two-thousandths of aninch in thickness, is placed between two relatively thick pads '14 ofcotton batting or similar water-permeable fibrous material, said padsserving to provide the necessary resiliency of the ironing pad as wellas to insulate the metal foil 12 to prevent-it'fromlosing the heatstored therein to either the atmosphere or othersu'rfaces in contactwith'the ironing pad 10. Covers 16 of water-permeable fabric, preferablyunbleached muslin or a'similar open weave fabric, are provided ontheouter surfaces of the cotton batting pads 14, to retain said pads inposition, said covers being retained in position by stitching 18extending between said covers and through the pads14 and the sheet ofmetal foil 12. The stitching is preferably made in the form of a numberof relatively closely spaced lines 20 giving a quilted ironing pad offirm though resilient construction. The sewing operation will, inaddition to stitching the pad together, perforate the metal foil in alarge number of places, thus providing a large number of perforations 22in the metal foil without the necessity of a separate perforatingoperation. In addition to holding the ironing pad together, thestitching 18 provides capillary passages through the perforations 22 toaid in the removal of moisture from the upper pad 14, as hereinaftermore fully explained. The stitching 18 should preferably be in the formof a lock-stitch to place the knots intermediate the surfaces and avoidprojecting knots at the surface of the ironing pad 10 which would causea rough surface on the material being ironed. A binding strip 24 may beprovided to bind together by stitching the outer edges of the ironingpad 10 if it is desired to give said pad a finished appearance.

In use, the ironing pad 10 of my invention is placed on any suitableironing surface, and the material to be ironed is moistened in the usualmanner and placed on the ironing pad 10. As heat is applied to the uppersurface of the material to be ironed by the usual electric iron or thelike, the moisture in the material being ironed will be driven throughthe upper cover 16, the upper pad 14 and through the perforations 22 inthe sheet of metal foil 12 into the lower pad 14 and lower cover 16, theperforations serving to provide a passage for the water vapor in theupper pad 14 while the stitching 18 serves to provide a large number ofcapillary passages along which condensed moisture may pass. The heat ofthe iron will be reflected back from the metal foil 12 to the lowersurface of the material being ironed through upper pad 14 and cover 16,thus speeding up the ironing operation.

As the ironing operation progresses, the moisture will collect in thelower pad 14 on top of the ironing surface, but upper pad 14 will remainwarm and dry due to the heat reflecting effect of the sheet of metalfoil 12, which continuously heats and dries the upper pad 14, themoisture therefrom passing through the perforations 22 in the metal foil12 into the lower pad 14 as hereinbefore explained.

Though a preferred embodiment of my invention has been shown anddescribed, it will be understood that modifications may be made by thoseskilled in the art, for instance, the metal foil might be perforatedbefore being inserted between the resilient pads. These and othermodifications are contemplated as within the spirit and scope of myinvention.

I claim:

1. A laminated ironing pad comprising a relatively thin water-permeablefabric cover, a relatively thick resilient water-permeable pad ofheat-insulating fibrous material on the underside of said cover, a sheetof thin perforated metal foil having a heat-reflecting surfacepositioned on the underside of said pad, a relatively thick resilientwaterpermeable pad positioned on the underside of said foil, and arelatively thin water-permeable fabric cover positioned on the undersideof said last-mentioned pad, said lamination being bound together by aplurality of rows of stitching, said stitching extending through thelaminated structure and extending through the perforations in said foil,said stitching providing capillary passages through said perforations toaid in the removal of moisture from said first-mentioned pad.

2. A laminated ironing pad as set forth in claim 1 further characterizedin that said metal foil is aluminum and further includes a relativelythin binding fabric extending around the edge of, and stitched to, saidlamination.

3. A laminated ironing pad comprising a relatively thick resilientwater-permeable pad of heat-insulating fibrous material, a sheet of thinperforated metal foil having a heat-reflecting surface positioned on theunderside of said pad, a relatively thick resilient water-permeable padpositioned on the underside of said foil, and spaced apart, bindingstitches passing through the laminated pad and extending through theperforations in said foil.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSl,ll6.35l Evans Nov. 3, 1914 l,l46,349 Ross July 13, 1915 1,616,356Diener Feb. 1, 1927 2,050,052 Galvin Aug. 4, 1936 2,278,517 John Apr. 7,1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 446,943 Great Britain 1936

